Re-homing your pet responsibly and humanely

The heart-wrenching task of re-homing the family pet is often due to circumstances like the loss of a job or home, a debilitating illness or injury, or PCSing to a location where personal animals aren’t allowed. Here are some tips on how to re-home your dog or cat responsibly and humanely.

Increasing your pet’s adoptability

Take a good color photo of Fluffy or Fido. If you already have a good photo, make it readily available for use. If not, take one which shows your pet’s best side, as soon as possible. Shelter intake pictures are usually taken hastily and may show a fearful, depressed or highly stressed animal in a less-than-ideal setting.

Prepare a brief description/biography. List any training your dog or cat has had: house-, crate-, and/or obedience training, if applicable. How does she get along with other animals or children? Describe her medical history and any current medical conditions, including any medication she may be currently taking. What are her favorite and least favorite foods, treats and activities?

Be honest. Full disclosure will help you find a new home that is a good fit for your beloved dog or cat, and ease the transition to a new home. Disclosing up front that your four-legged family member needs more training may spare him from being dismissed from his next home for being unruly.

Prepare your pet. Make sure your dog or cat is groomed, up-to-date on her vaccinations and is flea- and tick-free. If you haven’t done so already, have your pet spayed or neutered. Low-cost vaccination and spay/neuter clinics may be available in your area; check with local shelters and pet stores.

Instead, consider professionally managed pet matching communities. Services like Get Your Pet offer ways for people who need to rehome their pets to connect with people who want to welcome one into their homes. With careful vetting, tips on what to ask, where to meet, and even lists of participating veterinarians who will provide a free exam, this offers a safer way to conduct person-to-person adoptions than classified advertising.

A safer way of re-homing is to ask family, friends, coworkers and others you know whether they are interested – or know of anyone who may be interested – in adopting your dog or cat. Speak with other pet owners in your area, veterinarians, groomers, pet store staff, boarding or daycare staff, and others in the local pet care industry.

Many not-for-profit humane societies and animal rescues accept courtesy listings for their websites from those seeking to re-home a companion animal. Social networking on animal rescues’ or breed-specific Facebook sites may expedite the re-homing process.

Once a prospective adopter contacts you, consider interviewing the individual and conducting a home visit to make sure your pet’s next home is his forever home. Does the adopter have prior experience caring for pets? A home and/or yard big enough to accommodate your animal? Do they have the financial means to care for a pet like yours?

Most importantly, do they have realistic expectations about living with your pet? For instance, placing an active dog where she is home alone for 8-12 hours a day will not likely end well.

Surrendering your pet to a shelter

If you are not able to find a home on your own, surrendering your pet to a humane society, animal rescue, or municipal animal shelter is a viable option – and often the most humane.

Consider each organization’s surrender and adoption policies before you give up your dog or cat. Find out if they partner with other organizations to increase the adoption potential of the animals in their care.

If surrender is not an option – for example, the shelter is at capacity – ask if they allow courtesy posts, which can give your pet additional exposure to potential adopters.

The myth of “no kill” versus “kill” shelters

Most shelters are open-admission, meaning they take all incoming animals. When they run out of space or funding, most euthanize animals to make room for new arrivals if they’re unable to transport to other rescue groups, earning the unfortunate name “kill” shelter.

Older pets, large breed dogs, and animals with special needs, behavioral issues, injuries, or illnesses are the first to be put to sleep when a shelter reaches capacity. In some cases, an incoming animal might have as little as three days to be adopted or put to death.

No shelter wants to kill animals, but when the supply of available adopters is outpaced by the shelter’s capacity to house and care for homeless pets in its community in a safe and legal manner – and if transports to shelters that have capacity are not an option – euthanasia is typically the result.

Other organizations are limited-admission, meaning they only take in the number and type of animals they can re-home, and do not euthanize for space. These are often referred to as “no-kill” shelters, but the label is misleading. The vast majority of shelter staff are not “pro-kill,” but often lack the means to humanely manage the velocity of incoming pets. And even no-kill shelters euthanize animals deemed unadoptable due to illness, aggression or other factors.

Still others keep pets for months or even years; some are effectively “never kill.” This in itself is inhumane.

Breed rescues

Finally, explore breed-specific rescues up to a few hours from your home. Even if your animal isn’t a purebred, many breed rescues are open to mixes of the breeds in which they specialize. In most cases, breed-specific rescues are foster-based, meaning that if accepted, your pet will live in an approved foster family’s home until she is adopted.

If you must surrender your pet, research what facilities are available in your area (Google search terms: humane society, animal rescue, animal shelter). Ask about their process for accepting owner-surrendered pets (surrender fees and waiting list may apply), their efforts to care for and re-home pets in their custody, and their policy on euthanasia.

When surrendering your pet, offer the photo and history described above to facilitate efforts to find your pet his next home.

Giving up a beloved dog or cat is difficult. A little research and preparation may save you some heartache and lead your pet to a loving, caring forever home. We wish you every success if you’re faced with this decision.

11 Comments

Excellent article, thank you! One point you made and that I’d like to emphasize is that shelters aren’t just a “last ditch” option. Many shelters network with rescues and other shelters and often keep “waiting lists” of people waiting for specific breeds (or colors), so contacting them early in the process might help place the pet(s) with less stress for everyone concerned.

Create a Facebook page like this one for an adoptable pet, http://www.facebook.com/MailboxKittyNeedsAHome. That makes it easy for everyone you know to circulate/access information about the pet. (P.S. The foster family fell so in love with Archie they kept him! But the webpage is incredibly cute and we all still fallow little Archie’s adventures.)

You’re right – a little research and preparation really makes a big difference.

It’s good that you wrote about this and explained it. I doubt that the majority know the difference between a government funded public shelter and a private rescue group. They probably haven’t thought much about “kill” vs. “no kill” because they assume euthanasia won’t happen.

The Craigslist bit your wrote really turned my gut but I am grateful that you brought it up and explained it. It’s not like a person rehoming their pet is trying to sell an old stove or boat. An important sentient life is involved.

Great tip regarding taking a quality picture, providing a description and bio with any needs a pet has. That would help ensure that a cat gets a cat parent that will be a good fit and see to their extra needs.

“Limited Admission” does not necessarily mean “no-kill,” and many open admission shelters do achieve 90% live outcomes. It is VERY important to understand not only what the shelter / rescue’s euthanasia policy is, but also what pets they COULD take that they turn away. Municipal shelters that are supposed to be open admission sometimes turn away animals that citizens pay taxes to provide services for.

You commented on our blog post about rehoming pets and asked us to call you on Friday night. This is not something we do; our article simply has suggestions for people on how to responsibly rehome their pets when they are unable to keep them.

If you have any questions please send them in reply to this email. Thank you.